"System, what's going on with this Jade Record loan? I should've already finished it, right?"
The system went silent for a moment.
Then a line of text appeared.
[Sorry, forgot to load it |ω・）]
Lucien stared at the response, unsure how to react. It was unexpected, but somehow it also felt completely on brand.
The system had only just woken up from its upgrade. A few things were bound to lag behind while it got its bearings.
He let out a helpless little laugh. He could write it off as the system still rubbing sleep from its eyes.
The panel flickered a couple of times, like someone blinking awake.
A moment later, the old Jade Record fragment loan entry vanished.
But right after it disappeared, fresh information took its place:
[Completion of the Jade Record:]
[Use your hands to advance the progress of magical civilization]
[Upon completing the Jade Record, the host's alchemy talent and potions talent will both receive an upgrade.]
Talent upgrade?
Lucien's eyes lit up. He wasn't sure how much the potions talent would improve, but his alchemy talent was already sitting at SS+. One more push and it would hit SSS—only a single step from the absolute peak.
Back when he first received the Jade Record fragment, he had wondered exactly how to complete it afterward, and whether finishing it would raise his alchemy talent.
Looks like his guess had been right on the money.
Pushing the progress of civilization…
It wasn't about hitting some neat numerical target. It was about continuous innovation and creation.
Lucien turned the idea over in his mind. The original Jade Record fragment task had been straightforward—research and sell potions and alchemical products with clear sales goals. Once the numbers were hit, the loan counted as repaid.
Finishing the "fragment" had proven he had enough skill in both alchemy and potions, and that he could turn that knowledge into real, marketable items.
But this new "Completion of the Jade Record" was on an entirely different scale—advancing the progress of magical civilization itself.
"Civilization" and "progress" made Lucien think of the Muggle world he knew far better than this one.
In the Muggle world, breakthroughs in science and technology quietly improved ordinary people's lives in a thousand small ways. Advances in both cutting-edge fields and everyday life counted as real signs that civilization was moving forward.
Here in the wizarding world, the Floo Network's spread made travel easy, the endless upgrades to flying brooms kept pushing Quidditch speeds higher, and steady improvements to potion formulas kept raising the standard of magical medicine—every step was magical civilization inching ahead.
Using alchemy and potions to drive that progress.
Compared to inventing an entirely new spell to change how wizards lived, creating a new potion or alchemical product felt… almost simpler.
Tools and potions were extensions of daily wizard life. Every new invention had the potential to become part of countless people's routines.
Instant Language had done it. Beauty Spring had done it. So had all the different potion reagents.
Lucien thought for a moment. The Jade Record fragment had been the strangest loan he'd taken so far—repay it, and a whole new follow-up quest opened up right after.
And this Completion of the Jade Record wasn't a standard loan. No deadline. No pressure. It felt more like a long-term direction, a distant landmark placed out there for him to reach whenever he was ready.
Whether it was alchemy or potions, as long as he kept studying and experimenting, innovation would come naturally through practice.
He didn't need to force anything. He just had to keep walking in the same direction.
Looking back now, that very first loan—"Loki's Faceless Mask"—the one that had shot his Transfiguration talent straight up to SSS, really had felt like a beginner's welcome gift into the magical world.
Maybe that was how SSS-level talent was supposed to work. Finish the prerequisite loans, reach SS+ first, then unlock the next stage of completion and true ascension.
Lucien's gaze dropped to the small line of text beneath the Jade Record entry:
[Extraordinary talent is a "gift." May you use it to guide the progress of civilization.]